The present invention relates to the field of communications software generally and, more particularly, to wireless communication software for vehicle computers and associated methods.
Law enforcement officers have long needed a cost-effective system which delivers law enforcement data quickly, helps officers save time in the performance of their duties, and accomplishes these goals without interfering with other officer duties or endangering the officer. Early officer data systems included human dispatchers in radio frequency (xe2x80x9cRFxe2x80x9d) communication with officers in vehicles. In these early systems, data requested by the officer was typically searched for by hand and read back to the officer over the radio and, therefore, suffered from slow delivery of data, the cost associated with employing dispatchers, and a very limited database of available data.
These early systems were gradually replaced by police department computer systems typically including a main computer in a police department headquarters or control center in communication with a police vehicle computer and at least one law enforcement database, such as the system shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,939, by Morgan et al. titled xe2x80x9cAdvanced Law Enforcement and Response Technologyxe2x80x9d. Systems of this type use a handheld input device having a magnet stripe reader for filling in forms with data held on a magnet stripe located on cards such as driver""s licenses, transmitting these forms to the vehicle computer, and printing out these forms on a printer positioned in the vehicle. The magnet stripe reader for reading driver""s licenses poses an additional problem because the data obtained from the magnet stripe is often out of date, especially in states where licenses need not be renewed, and hence bar codes not being updated for many years. Further, the handheld unit required by such systems prevents the officer""s hands from being free for other activities and can place the officer in dangerous situations such as when the officer""s attention is devoted to the handheld unit instead of the officer""s surroundings.
Systems such as the Premiere MDC system sold by Motorola Corporation of Straumberg, Ill. have a police department computer in communication with a police vehicle computer and a database of law enforcement data. These systems offer computer aided dispatching, computer generated reports to be filled out by the officer, and can transmit responses to officer requests for law enforcement data such as data associated with license plate numbers or driver""s licenses. The vehicle computer software in the Motorola system has a limited text-to-voice program for presenting data in audio rather than video format and is also capable of displaying maps using a global positioning system (xe2x80x9cGPSxe2x80x9d) unit to define the area to be displayed. The presentation of this data, however, is often poorly organized and poorly prioritized, thereby requiring the officer to spend a long time finding the desired data and distracting the officer from other work. The text-to-voice software from the Motorola system allows the officer to be somewhat more aware of the surroundings but still endangers the officer as critical data, such as whether a suspect is believed to be dangerous, may not come until the middle or end of the audio transmission. Such systems conventionally transfer each element of written data or text to voice, e.g., including zip codes, extraneous information. Much of this information, however, is not needed by the officer and can be information overload for an officer. Further, because text-to-voice is typically monotone or lacking intonation, the officer must concentrate more attention on the transmission and may misunderstand portions of the transmission. Systems such as the Motorola system pose a still further problem because the officer must frequently focus attention on the computer screen while filling in forms and checking responses to queries. This substantially increases the danger to the officer as the officer cannot be aware of the surroundings at the same time. The mapping program also poses a problem because it cannot function without the expensive GPS service, can be slow, and is only capable of displaying proprietary maps associated with the GPS, thus depriving the officer of a choice of maps.
With the foregoing in mind, the present invention advantageously provides an apparatus for communicating with law enforcement during vehicle travel and associated methods that enhances the flow of data to the officer and completes routine officer tasks thus enhancing officer protection and freeing-up officer time. The present invention advantageously provides an apparatus for communicating with law enforcement during vehicle travel which prioritizes pre-recorded human voice responses to officer queries that deliver rapid, easily comprehended responses that allow the officer to maintain visual awareness of the surroundings at all times. The present invention further advantageously provides an apparatus for communicating with law enforcement during vehicle travel which transmits audio alarms to the officer to give the officer immediate warning of degrees of law violation associated with a suspect and also advantageously provides cost effective quick mapping of incident locations responsive to officer call dispatch data without using a GPS unit to track location.
An apparatus for communicating with law enforcement during vehicle travel according to the present invention preferably includes a first computer defining a department server in communication with at least one law enforcement database to supply law enforcement data to officers positioned in vehicles located remote from the department server. The apparatus also includes a vehicle computer positioned within a law enforcement vehicle in communication with the department server and in communication with at least one audio speaker. The vehicle computer preferably has mobile data communications software stored or positioned thereon to facilitate officer communication with the department server through the vehicle computer and to transmit and receive law enforcement data from the at least one law enforcement database through the department server. The vehicle computer further preferably has officer communication enhancing software stored or positioned thereon and in communication with the mobile data communications software to enhance officer communication with the department server through the vehicle computer. The officer communications enhancing software preferably includes an audio communicator positioned to transmit enhanced audio law enforcement data received from the mobile data communications software to the officer through the at least one audio speaker. The enhanced audio law enforcement data preferably includes a plurality of preselected and prerecorded audio messages responsive to the law enforcement data received from the mobile data communications software.
These preselected and prerecorded data messages advantageously can be in a format much more user-friendly and effective to law enforcement officers. For example, instead of the exact date of birth of an individual being voiced to the officer, e.g., Aug. 12, 1977, the preselected and prerecorded message can voice to the officer xe2x80x9c24 year old.xe2x80x9d Accordingly, the audio communicator preferably not only transmits the messages to the officer, but also advantageously analyzes, selects, and converts data to the preselected and prerecorded messages.
The law enforcement department computer defining a department server can advantageously be in communication with a plurality of remote law enforcement vehicle computers and preferably uses radio frequency to transmit and receive data. The department server is also preferably in communication with at least one and preferably a plurality of remote computers and possibly a local computer having law enforcement data defining law enforcement databases preferably through a communications network such as a global communication network like the Internet or a local communication network. The vehicle computer preferably includes mobile data communications software and officer communication enhancing software. The apparatus can also advantageously include a form completing enhancer having at least one incident form database to generate and populate a plurality of preselected incident forms and a quick mapper responsive to officer call dispatch data including an incident location to quickly generate and display a top plan street view map of the incident location.
Methods of enhancing communication with a law enforcement officer positioned in a law enforcement vehicle are also provided. One method preferably includes detecting law enforcement data received from a law enforcement database in communication with the vehicle, parsing the detected law enforcement data for preselected data fields, and audio announcing preselected and prerecorded audio messages responsive to data within the preselected data fields. The method can further include indicating levels of law violation and transmitting an audio alarm to the officer corresponding to the level of indicated law violation.
Another method of enhancing communication with a law enforcement officer positioned in a law enforcement vehicle according to the present invention preferably includes detecting law enforcement data received from a law enforcement database in communication with the vehicle, parsing the detected law enforcement data for preselected data fields, and populating preselected data fields in an incident form on the vehicle computer with the preselected data. The method can further include populating a plurality of preselected data fields in an incident form with data stored on the vehicle computer responsive to the officer populating a single data field.
A further method of enhancing communication with a law enforcement officer positioned in a law enforcement vehicle having a vehicle computer positioned therein and in communication with a department server according to the present invention, preferably includes detecting incident location data received in a dispatch transmission to the vehicle computer from the department server, generating a map of an incident location responsive to the incident location data, and displaying the map responsive to an officer request for map data. The map data preferably is a top plan street view map of the incident location. The method can further include importing the incident location data into a preexisting map database and then displaying a map from the map database.
The quick mapper of the present invention advantageously allows the officer or police department to choose between mapping programs rather than being dependent on a mapping program associated with a GPS unit. The form completing enhancer of the present invention further advantageously reduces officer errors in form completion as the majority of the form is completed with data drawn from law enforcement databases.